Pimento Cheese Yeast Rolls

Three or four times a week I make yeast rolls for the customers at Stella’s.  I usually look around for some sort of leftovers to throw into the rolls such as left over mashed potatoes, fresh herbs, tomato juice etc.  The other day we had two cups of chopped red peppers just sitting there calling […]

Bamboo Shoots

We have a walking/cycling trail in our neighborhood and in the middle of this trail is a healthy growth of wild Bamboo.  Bamboo reproduces by sending out shoots from a network of rhizomes that grow rapidly in the spring.  I checked on the bamboo last week and didn’t see any shoots then we went away for 4 […]

Morel Mushrooms

Saturday afternoon we got a phone call from a gentleman that hunts mushrooms.  He found a patch of yellow morels and he wanted to know if we would buy some.  Jason, the Chef/Owner of Stella’s Bistro responded emphatically, “Damn right!”  As he got off the phone he turned to me and relayed the good news and asked […]

Seven Books

  I had my first book signing at a real bookstore last week.  Fiction Addiction hosted me.  Jill, the proprietor has been very helpful and has given me some good advice and even though I started life as a writer through Amazon, the all-powerful corporation that independent bookstores deplore, she agreed to host me at […]

Hashtag Indian Food Palooza

My good friend and the neighbor I wish I had, Barbara Keibel, challenged her followers to participate in an Indian-Style Food celebration so Amy & I decided to play along.  I really love good Indian food and our current favorite restaurant is Handi, on Main street Greenville.  I’m not savvy enough to discern different styles […]

Gentlemen, Start your Apologies!

A good marketing strategy can be compared to fishing.  You can’t let the hook just sit there, you’ve got to keep it moving and ideally have more than one in the water.  So that’s why I took my wife to a car race for her birthday. One of the Food Network’s cast-offs was Food Fantasy, […]

How Seductive can a Dough be?

The other day I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when I came across a note from Jamie Schler, a food blogger living in the Loire Valley (yes, that Loire Valley).  She made Brioche rolls filled with chocolate chips and nuts and had posted some lovely photos on her website, Life’s a Feast.  I love […]

So you’re the Queen’s Boyfriend?

     In case you didn’t know this, Mardi Gras is not a one-day celebration but more of a season that begins with Twelfth night, the feast that celebrates the journey of the three wise men and their search for the new born Savior. The season ends with Mardi Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday, the […]

So you’re the Queen’s Boyfriend?

     In case you didn’t know this, Mardi Gras is not a one-day celebration but more of a season that begins with Twelfth night, the feast that celebrates the journey of the three wise men and their search for the new born Savior. The season ends with Mardi Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday, the […]

“Braised Pork Belly courtesy Chef Colicchio”

As the plate was set in front of me I was stunned.  Pork belly?  Really?  For Pete’s sake I was at the Gramercy Tavern, in New York City for an appearance on Sara Moulton’s Primetime and this Colicchio guy is sending me out a piece of pork belly?  Gee, thanks Tom.  Got any sweet tea […]